


Remember Love and Hope

by Beachvolley



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Angst with a Happy Ending, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, F/F, F/M, Let's Say Two-Thirds Happy, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Gets a Hug, Powerful Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:08:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26511916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beachvolley/pseuds/Beachvolley
Summary: When Adrien tries to apologize for abandoning her when she needed him the most, Marinette vanishes into thin air in front of him.When Chat Noir tries to scold Ladybug for not helping with an Akuma, she calls him by his civilian name.Facing off against a Ladybug with the power to destroy the universe, Team Miraculous finds out one horrifying truth after another. And the clock is ticking.Adrien has until new day's dawn to make Marinette remember hope and love, for if he cannot, her fate would be much worse than anything she could ever do to him.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26





	1. Worst Day

**Author's Note:**

> This will be my first fan fiction in quite a time. I hope I won't mess this up too much, but I really needed to tell this story. I'll be tagging as I go, and update schedule will be very sporadic, so I recommend subscribing. Please read the warnings before commenting.
> 
> There is a slight mention of sexual juvenile humor in this chapter. I won't make a habit out of it.
> 
> Have a good time!

That day, Adrien Agreste irrevocably changed the fate of Marinette Dupain-Cheng when he accidentally grabbed her breasts while tripping in the bathroom. Even though he was unable to dwell much on the embarrassing moment - owning what happened right afterwards - the appropriate reaction would come to him later. Much later. It went something like this:

 _Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh! I’m such an idiot! Who the hell trips that way? The dumbest of anime cliches, and I enact it in real life! Stupid, stupid, STUPID!_ This was accompanied by the strong desire of smashing one’s head against the wall.

For the aforementioned, in this situation obvious reasons, however, his thoughts went into a completely different direction. We will get to those in time. Instead, for the moment, we will explore another universe before coming back to this one. A universe, where, by sheer quantum coincidence, Adrien Agreste gained, for a millisecond, and for that very specific situation, omniscience. And when he did, he would think something like this:

Touching Marinette’s breasts saved billions of lives. And, quite possibly, the universe.

\---

His world was crashing down. When he dragged himself into school that day, it was with a feeling of dread. Sighing heavily, he stroked a hand through his hair, flipping it up, and entered the classroom, his father’s warning fresh on his mind:

“Only 16 points? Really, Adrien, I am quite disappointed in you. If you cannot manage keeping your grades up, I will have to pull you out of that excuse of a school and have you educated by tutors. Remember, you are special, anything you accomplish will reflect on the Agreste brand, including your marks”

He huffed mentally, as he sat down on the bench. 16 points in English. It wasn’t even a B, it still was an A. But for his father, it was close enough to a B in order to warrant a warning. Bad grades would not be tolerated, and anything short of perfection would be defined as “bad”

What he did not do, however, was blame his father for putting unreasonable expectations on a child. In that way, he had inherited more of his father than he knew: Pushing others to perfection was acceptable.

As Marinette entered, his face softened with fondness. Their everyday Ladybug. Hurting because of him.

“Take the high road, her lies aren’t hurting anyone” He winced every time he remembered his own words.

If he could have traveled back in time, future Adrien would have traveled back for a day, once a day, to slam his alter ego’s head face-first into the desk. Just to remind himself how wrong he was for thinking this was the right course of action. “She's hurting nobody, so by extension, even if you're hurt, it's not worth considering”, was basically what he had said. Bile rose in his throat, directed solely at himself

Marinette was hurting from the lies. Adrien felt like an asshole, rightfully so, he knew. Seeing Marinette lose her smile, her brightness, was both the logical outcome of this situation, as well as his own punishment. _Coward!_

“As long as we two know, it should be enough”, he had said, and back then, he had thought the message was clear: Even if nobody believes you, I’m there for you.

How could he have betrayed her that way? How could he miss the treason he just committed? How could he have been dense enough not to notice her drifting away from him. Her sparkling blue eyes becoming downcast? Her strong posture becoming hunched? Her contagious smile vanished and he was too blind to see it.

Oh, he had definitely felt the fallout of his actions. A feeling of unease when she interacted with him in a group. Noticing she never seemed to spend time with him alone anymore. She drifted away, and he was too self-absorbed, had his head too far in his own ~~arse~~ problems to notice the wounds inflicted on her day for day. The hurtful words, which he thought she put away like nothing…

To his credit, Adrien Agreste was not dense enough not to notice bullying when he saw it take place. However Adrien Agreste was the last person to come to Adrien Agreste’s defense; he was his own worst prosecutor, and as such, he pointed out:

 _You never asked her if something was wrong. You never went after her to see if something happened to her in the hallways. You literally only found out yesterday, and even then only when you visited her as Chat Noir. Which you only did because she did not show up to school that day. And EVEN THEN!_ he mentally spat at himself, _only because you noticed the makeup on one of her bruises was smeared”_

Marinette was nothing if not humble to the point of self-abandonment, and had tried to downplay her bruises. For once in his life Chat Noir had shown spine and not stopped until she had told him everything. She had cried in his arms after that.

Marinette had no friends left in Collège Françoise Dupont, and it was his fault.

“Good Morning, everyone!”

He physically flinched when Marinette entered the classroom with a loud cheer, staring with an open mouth. Lila and Alya, having taken a seat before he came in in already, also stared.

“Good Morning Adrien!”, Marinette said as she walked past him.

His breath caught when he saw the smile, that bright smile he thought he had destroyed single-handedly, gracing her face

Humming cheerfully, she walked to her seat and began shifting books and utensils from her bag to the table

The class stared at her, dumbfounded.

Lila’s eyes bugged out.

Alya, sitting next to her, rolled her eyes.

“Don’t let it get to you Lila”, she told the Italian girl before turning around to her former best friend, frowning. “Really, Dupain-Cheng? ‘Good Morning’? Don’t you think there’s something else you should say? About Monday?” She was gesturing to Lila’s arm, which was wrapped in bandages

Adrien cringed. There was no way he believed Marinette had broken Lila’s arm. It was, however, an undeniable fact that Lila’s arm was broken. The school nurse had Adrien accompany the Italian girl to the doctor that day, claiming Adrien’s Limousine would be the safest way to transport her. He had seen the x-rays as well, and Lila’s underhanded smile. She had done something to herself, and on purpose as well. And then blamed Marinette for it.

Lila broke her arm on Monday. On Tuesday, she returned to school. Wednesday, Marinette left the classroom during lunch break, and afterwards, the teacher told them she was home because she was feeling sick. She did not show up yesterday. This was the evening where she coyly asked Chat Noir to help her find the best make-up color for her bruises.

Marinette kept on humming, finishing unpacking before sitting down.

Frowning so hard a hole threatened to open in her forehead, Ayla stood up and stomped over to Marinette’s seat.

“Alya, wait, she’s not worth it”, Lila said feebly with a broken voice, holding her broken arm up so everyone in class could see it

“How dare you!” Despite speaking softly, Alya’s outrage was audible.

Marinette continued humming, the smile still on her lips. She started to arrange the books on her desk.

An ugly snarl echoed the ugliness in Alya’s soul. She raised her hand, and Adrien sprung up, chair clattering to the floor as Alya drew back her hand over her shoulder. Her knuckles whitening from the strain of her grip.

He was too late. Alya let her fist fly, unleashing rightful fury on the smiling bitch sitting in front of her. She needed it to hurt. She needed to punch the smug snake’s eye out. She needed to ruin those pretty teeth once and for all.

To accomplish this, however, she needed Marinette not to bring up her palm, effortlessly catching the punch without looking up or even flinching. Alya reeled back from the shock, half stumbling as her fist was held by a vice.

Adrien stopped in his tracks, shocked.

“What the hell?!” Half snarl, half curse, half confused exclamation: Alya Cesaire, running on 150% of her typical emotional intensity, tried to rip her hand free. The fifty-pounds-when-wet girl sitting in front of her did not seem to exert herself. Her other hand was even still arranging school utensils, laying out pencils and lineals

“Let me go!”, Alya cried. “You’re hurting me!” Irony had never been her strongest suit.

The cogs in Adrien’s brain started turning once more. He was by Alya’s side the moment she went to punch the bluenette with her other hand.

“STOP!”, he cried, trying to separate the two girls. Marinette still had a death grip on her fist. He turned to the reporter. “Are you mad? Alya, you can’t just punch somebody!”

Alya still struggled, tears of rage springing to her eyes.

“She broke Lila's arm! She waltzes in here like she did nothing and mocks us! Lila even spoke out for her and. She had to _lie_ Adrien. Lila hates lying, and she still lied to the teachers and told them it was an accident, just so the school won’t throw Marinette out. And that bitch SMILES!” Alya snarked.

Yes, Adrien thought, Lila spoke out for Marinette. In front of the teachers, she defended the baker's girl in a way that all but condemned her, sowing just enough discord so they would think nothing but the worst of Marinette. The class, however, was told the “truth”, albeit “reluctantly”. All so her favorite victim would always be in spitting distance, while at the same time ensuring her life would be hell.

Seeing Alya as a lost cause, Adrien turned his head to Marinette.

“Marinette, would you please let her go?”, he said softly. It was time. Time for him to stop hesitating. He knew what he had to do.

“Okay” Smile still on her lips, Marinette released Alya, who almost tumbled over her own feet as she stumbled backwards, reeling.

This has gone on long enough! Adrien Agreste knew he was a coward of the worst kind. But even a coward had things he held dear. He knew this decision was something that would cost him dearly. He had to choose between losing his only bit of freedom and only outlet from his oppressive home - or leaving his precious friend in the hell he himself had cast her into. Adrien finally reached a breaking point.

Marinette. Marinette had always been the right choice. The realization, the _weight_ of his sins, almost made him retch with nausea. _Not now_ , he thought. _Swallow it down, deal with it later. She’s here because of your own selfishness, deal with it and focus on HER!_

“We need to talk”, he said, taking her hand, not looking into her face. Would she even come with him? Would she even trust him?

Alya sputtered poisonous nonsense in the background.

Lila smirked triumphantly at the scene, no doubt planning to exploit it sometime in the future

“Okay”, came a small voice. A voice that meant everything to him. He swallowed.

After she had stood up, he pulled her, very gently, and led her out of the classroom, into a bathroom halfway across the school, ignoring his classmates’ protest.

A time would come where he would process just how enormously he had messed up. A time where he would beg the girl for forgiveness, on his knees, knowing fully well he did not deserve it.

A time where he would Cataclysm just enough body parts of Alya Cesaire and Lila Rossi to ensure they were never able to hurt anybody ever again.

Now, however, he needed to focus on the damage he had done, and especially on the girl he had inflicted said damage on.

He closed the bathroom door behind him. He had chosen this specific bathroom for a reason; it was a one-stall bathroom and thus could be locked. Nobody would be able to overhear them here. He took a deep breath before turning around. Marinette still was wearing that strange smile she had ever since this morning.

“What do you want from me, Adrien? Is something wrong?”, she said sweetly, her face unreadable.

“Warning, nuclear power plant just exploded!” was the level the alarm sirens going off in his head approximately were on. The tone of her voice… that smile… it was as if the Marinette from two months ago, before all of this had happened, was back. Adrien swallowed with unease.

“‘Is something wrong?’”, he echoed. “She was going to hit you!”

Adrien prided himself as an okay-ish judge of character. Certainly not the best, but also not the worst. Most of his troubles in that department stems from having to dig himself out of his own funk to notice what the people around him went through. At that moment, however, all of his attention was on the girl in front of him.

“She _tried_ ”, Marinette said darkly.

Adrien shivered. Something was very wrong

“It takes more-”

Her posture was so confident!

“-than a troglodyte-”

As were her words.

“to land a hit on _me_!”. She emphasized the last word

The attitude.

Adrien’s eyes narrowed. The unease was sloshing around in his stomach like a three-days-old tuna milkshake. This was not a girl who had been bullied for two months. This was not the same girl who had dragged herself home the day before, emotionally drained to a point where even her tears were all dried up.

“What happened to you?”, he whispered. Was it an Akuma that had brought about thischange?

These words seemed to change something in her, because suddenly her face shifted into a sneer of sheer hate, the strong emotion on display enough to make him take a step back.

“Lila happened, Agreste!”, she spat, and the guilt soaring in his throat was incredible as she glared at him.

Then he steeled his resolution. He needed to make this right. It was still possible. It would be difficult, and would cost him everything, but that was okay. It had already cost Marinette much more than he would ever lose in return. And it had already cost both him and her the friendship the two of them had.

He shook his head.

“Never again!”, he said. “It won’t happen ever again”

She looked at him as if he’d transformed into Chat Noir in front of her. Suddenly she looked like the vulnerable girl he had helped put bandages on her shoulders the night before.

“How can you say that?”, she said, her doe eyes sparkling with tears. “It’s too late. We could have exposed her before she destroyed my reputation. Trying to expose her now will accomplish nothing, it’ll only destroy your own!. Let it be...”

He took a step towards her.

“No. I swear to you, I will stop her. I was wrong. Her lies did hurt somebody, right from the beginning. They hurt you. And I was too much of a coward to help you. I’m sorry. I don’t expect you to ever forgive me, but please, let me help put this right. I will do all the work. I’ll talk to our classmates, I’ll do research to expose her lies. I’ll do everything the friend I once was to you should have done. I WILL put an end to this!”

Those were the words Adrien Agreste would have said, if the sheer emotion had not distracted him enough for him to stumble over his own feet. To his horror, he found he had enough time for him to curse himself mentally as he stumbled towards her - _YOU IMBECILE!_ , funnily enough, it sounded more like Plagg’s voice than his own. Enough time to look into Marinette’s surprised face. In reflex, he raised his arms to try to gain balance, or shield her from his body, but it did not work. He crashed into her, and together they tumbled to the floor.

Marinette gave a surprised yelp as she was dragged to the ground alongside him.

As they crashed, he heard a distinct “Oof!” from the girl.

“Marinette, are you hurt?” He pushed himself upright.

 _Idiot!_ , he thought, _of course she’s not okay. Her whole body is already covered in bruises before a clown twice her weight tried to turn her into pancakes._ He could not help himself but notice how small her body’s frame was against his.

Assuming a sitting position and trying to shift his weight onto his knees so he no longer dry-pressed her to death, he sought her face.

“Adrien…”, she mumbled uncomfortably, averting eye contact. It would be the last thing he’d hear from her for several hours, but that was for him to remember later. As for now, he only noticed how flushed her face was.

His eyes wandered further down to his hands.

_Oh no._

As always, he made sure to mess up in the worst way possible.

His hands.

His fingers.

They were right on her breasts, and they were grabbing.

He let out a small whimper. His face flushed red. To his horror he opened his mouth to apologize. _Do that later! Move. your. hands. idiot!_

And suddenly he fell onto his wrists and tailbone. Crying out with pain, he fell backward. He moaned as his head was introduced to the concrete floor.

As he saw stars, he contemplated what happened. She must have pushed him off, and by the force of the impact, there had been some strength behind it, too. Probably a mixture of embarrassment and hate.

He groaned in pain and self-loathing, rolling around on the floor, flopping around like a shell-shocked fish for a moment before he turned to face the girl, dreading the moment. He was a fool, and she would never trust him now!

“Marinette?” She wasn’t in front of him. The door? No, it was still locked. Behind him? Nobody was there.

Confused, he pushed himself upright and turned around.

“Marinette, where are you?”, he said, turning in circles a few times before his brain caught up with him. He checked the small bathroom stall. No Marinette.

The window? Barred, impossible to get out of.

Marinette was not here. She was gone.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had vanished into thin air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapters are always hard. I've edited this quite a bit, and hope I haven't made too many mistakes. I know this looks like a salt fic, but from what I've planned, there will be bigger fish to fry as of next chapter. I have the end game planned out, so let me reassure you one more time that the ending is going to be mostly happy. However, there will definitively be a lot of fallout from what is going to happen...


	2. Defilement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien's life becomes a juxtaposition of joy and grief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read the archive warnings, please.

Adrien’s mouth widened considerably as he stared into the room. _Marinette has vanished. Marinette is gone._ The morning bell brought him back to reality

“Plagg!”, he all but screamed, “Plagg!”

A distinct yawn was heard from his pocket.

“Caw canny, kid”, he said in a half-yawn, “‘m ‘rdy ‘wake” Snot bubbles drifted from his nose as he floated up to Adrien's face, eyes closed.

“Plagg, Marinette is -wait, Caw what?”, Adrien frowned. clashing moods producing a small amount of brain lag.

“’s Bri’ish ‘r somethin’, I think” He gave a small, sleeping-cat-like shrug.

Adrien shook his head as if to shake the confusion away.

“We don’t have time for this. Plagg, Marinette is gone!”

Plagg opened one eye, glaring at him half-heartedly.

“Then go get her kid, don’t disturb my beauty sleep for your teenage drama nonsense!”

“I mean she’s vanished. One moment she was here, then _poof!_ , she is gone!”

“Fast one, that is!”

Groaning, Adrien facepalmed.

“Plagg, I’m serious. I was distracted for two seconds and she's gone! She’s vanished from this room. The door was locked, for Pete’s sake!”

“Maybe it was an Akuma?”

Adrien shook his head vehemently.

“There’s no screaming, if there was an Akume we’d h-”

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

Someone thudded against the door heavily.

“Dude!”, a muffled voice screamed, “whoever’s in there, get out! There’s an Akuma! Alya has been akumatized!”

“There you go, kid”

Adrien glared at his cat companion and raised his hand with the Miraculous. Plagg’s eyes widened.

“Wait, I still haven’t finished my third--”

“Plagg, Claws Out!”

“Camenbeeeooowwwooofff!!”

\---

“Screaming, Crying & Running Around Like An Idiot” was the title of the Soundtrack which played alongside an Akuma attack, and Collège Françoise Dupont had mastered its performance to such a degree of mastery, the school’s headmaster could have sent out trademark applications.

Nino did not even blink when Chat Noir opened the door. Any other school would have sent out stranger danger alarms at the sight of a fetish-gear clad bondage furry, but at this school such things were a common occurrence.

“Chat Noir, thank god you’re here! Alya has been akumatized, after me, quick!”

Before Chat Noir could protest, the spectacled boy had already taken off, presumably in the direction of the attack. Normal citizens would have run away from the danger. Chat Noir cursed and extended his trusty baton, though he could not fault his friend too much.

Usually, to find the Akuma, one would run in the opposite direction from everybody else. Unfortunately, in Collège Françoise Dupont, the pupils had become somewhat desensitized to Akuma attacks. Screaming and running had become a pavlovian reflex to the words “Akuma Attack”, and thus everyone simply starting running the way they were facing anyway. It would have been unreasonable to expect more from the students.

Nino at least had the good sense not to stop in front of the door - as expected he had led Chat Noir to Mrs. Bustier’s classroom. Unfortunately, he ran past it to give Chat a clear path, or at least tried to, as in just that moment, a green bolt of energy flew out and knocked the spectacled boy to the floor. Chat leaped to the floor and dragged the boy to safety like a downed soldier in Call of Duty.

“Nino, Nino, everything OK?” He cradled the boy.

Nino squeezed his eyes shut, grimacing.

“It hurts, dude!”, he gasped, “Im gonna die!”

Chat frowned. A quick glanceover later he rolled his eyes.

“You’re fine, _dude_ ”, he smiled at him.

Nino opened his eyes and looked at him, the same pained expression still visible.

“I’m not gonna make it, dude, I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die, and I never told her that I have a crush on her!”

Adrien’s eyes widened. His friend was in love with somebody else? Was that why Alya had been akumatized? Or was it her beef with Marinette after all?

“Who do you have a crush on?”, he asked, carefully.

Nino’s expression grew even more pained.

“It’s Alya, dude” His eyes suddenly widened, “Dude, never tell her I said that!”

“But Nino, you and Alya already are an item! You’ve been together for months!”

Nino looked like he was about to faint.

“Dude, that’s just cruel! You have no idea how much I want that!”

Chat Noir had dealt with enough Akuma to recognize had been affected by one. Dropping Nino to the floor, he stood up and entered the classroom, defensive combat stance ready, baton in front of him.

Alya’s Akuma was standing on a desk, cackling maniacally while indiscriminately shooting at Chat’s classmates and passersby. Rose and Juleka were sitting in a corner, bawling like babies while clutching each other. Max was on the floor, frowning, his tongue stuck out, gripping a pencil in his fist while trying to solve the equation “2 + 2 = ?”. Chat had entered just in time to see the Akuma shoot at Mrs. Bustier. She immediately started looking around in panic. 

“Wait, what, why am I here? I was supposed to teach the class in 2-A this year!”

She ran past the baffled Chat, as Kim screamed:

“No, Mrs. Bustier, that was two years ago!” A green shot of energy later, Kim immediately dropped into a fetal position, sucking his thumb.

Having taken in the classroom’s chaos, Chat studied the Akuma, all senses on guard, as she did not look like the familiar Lady WiFi. However, as usual, she looked ridiculous. The most prominent feature was a white helmet with a plexiglas visor, which looked like it had an augmented reality-style digital overlay. The helmet itself had two gigantic PC memory modules sticking out at the top. The Akuma’s gaudy jacket was bad enough, but what really drove up the kitsch was the Wingdings symbol patern decorating it. Hawk Moth was getting retro. In contrast, her green-black leggins were downright normal. Alya’s feet, however, seemed to be stuck in thunderclouds, which were black and flashing with miniature lightning bolts, enabling her to float a few centimeters above the ground. 

Having assessed all there was to deal with the situation, the superhero part of Chat Noir’s brain kicked into overdrive. Brandishing his baton, he harrumph, trying to summon his most Shakespearean voice.

“Curse you, foe! Who are you to steal people’s memories!”

Alya’s Akuma cackled gleefully as she turned to face him, clearly enjoying the spectacle. Chat grinned as well. God, sometimes Akuma were so much _fun_!

“I am MemJogger!”, Alya’s Akuma accentuated acidly, effortlessly pronouncing the intercap. “I remind people of who they once were, and erase the person they are right now! I bring out the familiar, and delete the uncharted unknown!”

Chat dove behind a bench as MemJogger shot at him from her Energy Gun.

“Chat Noir! I’ll make remember a time before you were a superhero! You won’t even miss your Miraculous!”

She jumped to his bench and shot at him as he ran, missing his feet by centimeters as he scrambled to escape. This classroom was much too small to fight a projectile-based Akuma! But luckily, there was a better option.

MemJogger cackled gleefully as Chat Noir jumped around, the blonde boy weaving around shots like a drunken Limbo dancer before finally knee sliding towards the open window.

“Yeeeeeehaaaawwww!”, Chat Noir screamed gleefully, working his staff like an electric guitar before diving through the opening.

As he landed on the street, he grinned, sparing a quick glance backwards to ensure he was being followed. He quickly jumped up the balcony of the next building and began to make his way across the roofs of Paris. The cursing Akuma trailed behind him, screaming as she took potshots, but at this distance, evasion was child’s play. As he began to make his way to his desired battleground, Adrien pressed a button on his staff and dialed Ladybug’s phone.

He frowned when she did not answer. Usually, Ladybug was the first to get the drop on new Akuma. Well, no matter. Glancing back once more, he confirmed the Akuma was only shooting at a few passersby, concentrating on following him otherwise. Well, no matter. Ladybug would probably show up sooner or later, and even if she didn’t, MemJogger’s Energy Gun only affected people and did not cause any destruction or lasting harm. Chat Noir was confident he could deal with the Akuma on his own. In a pinch, his Cataclysm would do the trick.

Within a few minutes, he had lured the Akuma to the location where the final showdown would take place; the site of many a battle of Ladybug's and Chat Noir's: Le Grand Paris. Both parisian superheroes had Miraculouses which profited from verticality, and the Hotel was easier to navigate than the Eiffel Tower.

With one giant leap, Chat jumped to the building’s third floor, embedding his fingers and the tips of his boots into the building's concrete. Quickly, he scuttled around like a giant spider, moving so his head was bellow his feet, and looked down on Memjogger, who was still in hot pursuit

The Akuma came to a stop on the roof of a house across the street, glaring up at a grinning Chat.

“Come and get me, big girl!”, he taunted, firmly attached to the building.

He sent the impulse to his muscles the moment he saw MemJogger take aim. Hoping his boots would support his weight, his pushup tilted his body upwards at the knees, and as soon as he felt the building’s stone against his back, he once more slammed his claws into the stone. 

“Missed me”

He continued vertically backflipping up the building, leaving behind tiny holes in his wake as he found out that MemJogger’s clouds were not only for floating. _Just my luck_ , he thought as he saw Alya’s Akuma take flight. Quite dizzy, he landed on the balcony of the Hotel’s upper most floor, which he knew went around the whole building. Perfect for a game of Chat and mouse! There were two large double doors on either side of the floor, leading into the ceremonial hall. He could have looked right through the building this way, had it not been for the party in progress.

Great, out of all the days, the Mayor was running one of his fundraisers today, and to make matters worse, he had seen Chat Noir and came running

“Chat Noir, what a honor!”, the politician drawled, and Chat groaned as he saw the man opening his arms. “I am sure with YOUR endorsement, I will be able to--”

Luckily, Chat never found out what he was supposed to endorse, as he dodged out of the way. Knowing the Akuma's effects did not cause any form of physical damage killed any kind of protest his conscience might have delivered for using the man as a shield, and luckily, Ladybug was not here to scold him. He quickly ran through the room, toppled the dinner buffet table as he dove below it, jumped through a pyramid of champagne glasses and knocked that table down as well. As quickly as he could, he sneaked out of the room, crawling as he did so.

MemJogger's energy weapon is a real problem. Luckily, there was a pretty simple solution, which was sneaking around the building and attacking from the back. He heard screams and wails from the building’s inside as the Akuma cackled.

 _And they say I am the easily distracted one!_ , he grinned, turning the balcony's corner to the side of the building without an entrance to the ceremonial hall.

His skipped a beat as he saw the small person sitting on the railing. He would recognize this black-spotted, red-clad girl anywhere.

“M’Lady”, he whispered with a throaty voice, “glad to see meow-ade it!”

He always hoped for a grin or a laugh when he punned, but was also content with an annoyed grunt.

He frowned when there was no reaction at all.

He walked over to her side as she dangled her legs over the railing. Her hands were in her lap, and she seemed to stare at nothing.

“M’Lady? Bugaboo? Are you okay?"

No reaction. He hesitated.

Ladybug?”

He waved a hand in front of her face, carefully. He did not want to startle her, it was a long way down.

She turned her head and looked at him with the dullest eyes he had ever seen. Her eyelids were barely open. Seconds later her gaze went back to stare into nothingness. Her legs never stopped dangling.

“What happened to you?”, Chat Noir asked, frowning, raising his hand once more as if to touch her cheek. Had she been… hit by the Akuma?

Something was very wrong. The same feeling from earlier this morning flooded his gut. The same feeling from when Marinette had vanished. This time, Chat Noir did not hesitate in his decision. Akuma first, then Ladybug immediately after. Besides, if Ladybug had been hit, she clearly was out of it at the moment.

What had been a fun Akuma battle was suddenly replaced by a feeling of trepidation. His movements were on auto pilot. Sneaking around the building and jumping onto the Akuma’s back was child’s play. He removed MemJogger’s helmet and broke Alya’s glasses.

Akuma always took over symbolic items which represented the pain a person felt at the moment they were akumatized. Alya had been blind with hate, blind to see the girl sitting in front of her for what she was. While she still was groggy, he dumped her into the elevator and sent her to the ground floor. He was unwilling to deal with her insanity at the moment, and she would be unable to get back up without a special key. He quickly made sure the people were recovering - a process which involved a lot of groaning, holding one’s head and saying things like “Where am I? What happened?” - before ducking into the janitor’s closet. He practically crammed the camembert down Plagg’s throat before retransforming. There was no way he was abandoning a second friend this day.

He ran back to the balcony as fast as he could. Ladybug was still dangling her legs, staring into nothing. 

“Hey, Bugaboo!”, he called, raising a hand as he fought to keep the unease out of his voice. He gave her a cattish smile, “You know, I’m honored M’lady thinks me worthy enough to deal with a low-effort akuma on my own, but I think the Mayor’s gonna be pretty pissed about his little fund-raiser if you don’t Miraculous Ladybug it soon. There was a lot of expensive food involved”

She did not even deign to glance at him. The smile vanished from his face. He jumped on the railing, leaving his legs to dangle with hers as he turned his head towards her once more.

“Rough day, huh?”, he asked, seeing her lips quiver as he spoke.

He almost hugged her when she sighed. His heart soared as she gave a dark chuckle. Finally something resembling communication!

“You have no idea, mon minou”, she whispered.

“Ladybug!” Chat flinched as the cheerful, if by now slightly stressed, voice came from behind them. The Mayor really did not know how to read a room… err… city… which was bad in and of itself. The annoyance on Ladybug’s face was tangible. Her lips twitched once more as the politician talked. Jumping up from his sitting position, Chat turned around and eyeballed the man as he came closer.

“Now, Ladybug, I know that Paris is a beautiful city, but time is literally money and I happen to have very little of both left this morning. I have a fundraiser to run, and during your little battle, my champagne pyramid was destroyed, so I need the cure ASAP, in fact, i demand--”

He was not able to finish before it all went to hell.

*BANG*

The explosion shook the whole roof as Chat Noir was catapulted from the railing with a salto, thankfully not plunging off the building but onto the stone floor behind him. He landed on his butt, dazed for only a second, before taking in the marble pillar in front of him. A marble pillar which had not been there mere seconds before.

A two meter long stone needle was in front of him, made from the same material as the balcony’s marble floor, jutting out from the floor at an angle. A gargling rattle came from its top and Chat’s eyes widened in horror as he recognized what, no, _who_ made that noise. It was the mayor of Paris, except the stone needle had gone straight through his face, protruding from the back of his head. Its sharp point was shiny with red blood, gritty with hair and slimy with… pink… stuff…

The superhero felt sick to the core as he saw the dying man’s hanging body convulse. Chat’s stomach lurched on the sight, and a terrified tremor shook his wrists

“L-Ladybug, t-the Cure, NOW!”, he screamed, jumping to his feet. As he whirled around, she was already standing by his side, eyes still half closed but distinctly brighter than before. A small smile was on her lips. With horror, he noticed her face was flecked with a red liquid, covering up most of her facemask’s black spots.

“Non, non, non, mon minou”, she tutted, playfully, “let me have this moment of silence, please? It’s been centuries since the last time” She _winked_ at him, drawing her pointer finger first to her lips in a shushing motion, before placing its tip on his trembling bottom lip.

He physically reeled away from the contact, the girl in front of him suddenly foreign.

“T-That’s not funny, he’s hurt, you, he---” Chat choked with emotion, and then his brain came to a crashing halt as he heard the trickling. His eyes darted back to the Mayor, a dark spot visible on the man's pants, urine trickling down his legs before dripping from the tip of his shoes, down onto the floor. A horrible stench reached Chat’s nose, bringing with it the realization that the man was unmistakable dead.

Chat doubled over and vomited on the floor, heaving brutally as his body emptied itself of everything he had eaten since this morning. He had to steady himself with his hands on his knees as his head threatened to capsize, swimming through the waves of nausea crashing into his body. He only faintly heard someone begin to scream from the inside of the building. A small hand began rubbing circles on his back.

“Let it all out, mon minou, let it all out”, a soothing, feminine voice said in a half-whipser. “There, there, it’s okay...”

Finally, he stopped heaving, gasping for air, puke still dripping down his chin, as a black-spotted, red-gloved hand caressed his face, stroking over his cheek and gently cupping it. He lifted his head and gazed into her face, still holding the same smile as before. Ladybug. His Lady. The love of his life. Not a hint of cruelty was visible on her face.

“Please, bring him back”, he whispered, brokenly, “just use the Lucky Charm, there’s still…”

“Shhhh”, she said, a silky thumb thumb tracing his lips. “Watch” With her free hand, she made a small wave in the air. Suddenly, ladybugs appeared, thousands, millions of them. The magical ladybugs washed over the stone needle and the Mayor’s corpse, seconds later, the Mayor stood where he had been before his cruel execution, pants and floor clean. They had even vanished the vomit.

Chat jerked upright, breaking the contact, his head moving back and forth between the mayor who started looking around with a haunted face, and Ladybug, who was still smiling at him. There was no longer any blood on her face.

“Wha-- how did you-- without--”, he began to stammer, his eyes wide.

“I… picked up a couple of tricks?”, she said, smiling coyly, and for a second that sheepish facial expressions of hers, the scrunched pose and the wringing hands were just so _Ladybug_ that he could not unite what he saw with what just happened.

Unfortunately, the Mayor chose this very moment to have his head catch up with what happened to him, and he began to scream.

“Oh, quiet you!”, Ladybug scowled, not even tearing her gaze away from Chat as she made an upward motion with two fingers.

Chat almost fell for the third time as the ground shook once more, and his eyes widened as he saw another rock needle impale the Mayor’s face.

“Nooooooooooooo!”, he screamed, hand futilely reaching towards the man as tears streamed down his face.

Ladybug giggled. “Oops!”, she said, raising four fingers to her lips, smearing the blood which had stained her face once more.

A realization he did not even know he had held back the whole time hit Chat Noir like cold water hit a black cat on an icy night.

“That- that was you?” _I won't believe it! I can't believe it!_ _You?_ ”

Ladybug just shrugged. “Told you I picked up some new tricks”

“W-why? WHY? You’re Ladybug, you’re a hero. W-w-we’re supposed to be helpful, a-a-and nice. You’re not a murderer!”, he almost screamed into her face, words failing him as he trembled.

She had the audacity to roll her eyes at him.

“Fine”, she huffed, waving her hand once more. Chat did not even ask how she was able to summon the magical ladybugs twice per transformation, Seconds later, the Mayor was restored once more, his face still haunted, whimpering. Ladybug raised an eyebrow at Chat Noir. “Better?”

He swallowed. What the hell was he supposed to answer? What had happened? Was this some sort of paralell universe? Was he dead? Was this hell? He stared at her, trance-like, wondering if this could be all a nightmare he soon would wake up from.

Ladybug smiled.

“Good. Then we continue...”

Ice ran down his body as he realized what she meant. He saw her hand’s fingers curling in, leaving only the pointer and middle finger extended.

“N-no…”, he gasped futilely.

Ladybug smiled and jerked her fingers upwards.

Another needle, another angle. A beautiful heroine flecked in blood. This time, the Mayor did not die instantly, his body quaking and flopping like an impaled fish hanging from a spear. The shock as the needle was summoned felt like a baseball bat smashing a newborn kitten.

Waving hands. Magical ladybugs. A shivering, but alive mayor.

A smiling Ladybug, face pure as snow. An upwards motion. Another shock. A dead man. Another dying kitten. Blood flecked lips.

Chat Noir sunk to his knees.

Handwave, Ladybugs, Resurrection, Motion, Bloodstains, Death.

Tears streamed down his face.

Fingers. The sickening sound of flesh and bone being torn apart by rock, post mortem defecation. The love of his life, defiled.

“Stop it… stop it” Chat Noir whispered, begging her with his eyes. She did not, and every time she did it, it felt like his soul was torn apart. All the while she never broke eye contact with her kitty, never lost her smile, never wavering, even as she was stained in blood over and over.

Death. Rebirth. Death. Rebirth. Casual Cruelty. Casual Mercy. A never ending drum rhythm, the background music to the hell the world suddenly had turned into

Chat Noir threw back his head, squeezing his eyes shut, begging to the skies of Paris.

“Please… STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!”

He screamed, tears spilling over.

One last rebirth, and then his prayers were answered. The silence roared in his ears. He opened his eyes to see her standing above him, still smiling. He flinched as a hand reached out to him, and for a moment, she seemed to hesitate, before wiping away the tears off his facemask with her thumb.

“Poor, poor Adrien”, she whispered, and his eyes widened once more, unable to comprehend, to understand, “I’m sorry, sometimes I need to blow off some steam. I should have gone to your mansion to kill your father to do it, but I guess I forgot…”

His breathing quickened, emotion exploding and turning into anger

“Don’t you dare hurt my father”, he spat at her, then winced. She had spoken his own words, alongside him, unisono. Another thumb was placed on his trembling lips.

“Shhh. Gabriel Agreste is Hawk Moth, Adrien. You know, the bad guy? Ol’ Papa Papillon? That’s your dad!” As she giggled, he wondered, hoped, begged he had gone insane, that he was hallucinating.

And then, as if to add to the cruelty, to the hell Le Grand Paris’ top floor had been transformed into, she dropped her transformation, and in front of him stood Marinette, sweet Marinette Dupain-Cheng, smiling the same smile Ladybug had given him just seconds before. The same smile she had smiled in the bathroom. Breaking their contact, he saw her turn around, and fairy-like wings sprouted from her back. 

“Goodbye”, she breathed, not looking back before taking flight as if it was something she as natural as breathing. He could only stare until she became a speck against Paris’ sky.

It was only when she was gone, that he suddenly felt like a ton of pressure had been lifted from his body. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for his soul. Looking around, he saw the Mayor, alive and unhurt, sitting three meters away from him, huddling against the wall and bawling his eyes out. And suddenly, Chat felt his own tears once more. Slamming the ground with his fists, he began to scream.

It would be a long time until he stopped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to make the battle against MemJogger as vanilla Ladybug as I could, in order to set up the contrast for what happens afterwards. I'm pretty happy with this chapter, it turned out almost exactly like I wanted.
> 
> If anybody guesses the correct reason Ladybug is so powerful in this story before I post the next chapter, I'll give them a shout out.


End file.
